Magyar Posta is issuing a sheet of postage stamps and a book of special stamps to mark the Shanghai World Expo.Over
200 nations and international organisations are taking part at the
Shanghai World Expo, being held between 1 May and 31 October 2010, in
either rented pavilions or ones they have built themselves. The slogan
for the Expo is “Better City, Better Life”, which Shanghai is
endeavouring to make reality as its own basic principle. The aim is to
create a 21st-century, envi-ronment friendly, urban living space in the
spirit of sustainable development.

Participants will be able
to exchange experiences on the directions of urban development and to
formulate progressive thoughts for the new century on human behaviour,
lifestyle and the workplace environment. They can learn how to build an
environment friendly society and how to ensure the sustain-able
development of mankind. With cultural diversity in mind, the Expo
con-tributes to development focusing on people as well as to scientific
and tech-nological innovation. Source: vilagkiallitas.hu

The “main
character” in the Hungarian pavilion is the Gömböc, the first known
homogeneous, convex object to have just one stable and one unsta-ble
point of equilibrium. It can be proved that no body can exist with fewer
positions of equilibrium. No matter how it is put down, it always
returns to the stable point of balance. It behaves like a wobbly man
toy, always righting itself. This, however, is not due to a weight but
to its shape as it is made of a single, homogenous material.

Although
its existence was conjectured by the Russian mathematician Vladimir
Igorevich Arnold in 1995, its inventors are two Hungarian architects. On
20 August 2007 Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi were awarded the
Knight’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary for their invention. Source:
gomboc.eu

The Gömböc is shown on the stamps. This unique invention
is being released in special sheets containing 30 ordinary postage
stamps. The designs of the stamps illustrate the most characteristic
phases of the movement of the Gömböc.

The stamps are also being
released as a special issue in the form of an unusual book of stamps. By
flicking the pages of the book, the designs showing the movement phases
of the Gömböc are brought to life and its movement appears like a film.
On the first day cover the Gömböc and the equations describing its
construction and operation can be seen. The special postmark uses the
logo of the Gömböc.